Padfoot and the Lion
by MuggleFriendly
Summary: In the time between Sirius's escape and return he meets a witch who will change his life. Rated M for (hopefully) later chapters.
1. The Beginning

He had wished goodbye to Harry in an instant. He hadn't memorised Harry's face it had been too confusing in the Shrieking Shack he had been blinded too angry staring Pettigrew down, the rat that he, was he hadn't looked at Harry in detail there; then when the Dementors had found them he was too close to death to know what was surrounding him his eyes had flickered open for a second just to catch the stag Harry seemed to constantly be carrying reminders of his parents with him and then when he had been rescued by Harry he was beyond joyous he had looked at Harry then but just seen James.

Now that he felt the constant rhythm of Buckbeak's wings and the up and down movement of flight he tried to memorise Harry's face but once again could only see his dear friend Prongs but now that he thought he saw that Harry was not entirely James, no Harry had inherited Lily's eyes. Her vivid, green eyes had stared back at Sirius. Apart from the obvious Sirius had a hard time remembering Harry's face he could see the scar but in his mind it was a bright, shiny red he knew this wasn't how it looked in real life but he hadn't seen Harry long enough to know he didn't know the details like when you could imagine someone's face so precisely you knew where the lines on the faces were from laughing to hard or where they had an acne scars. Sirius could remember James and Lily's faces in this detail and he did it now. As he imagined them a cruel voice from the back of his head spoke "They'd hate you for abandoning their son, you're the only chance of a loving family he has" but Sirius knew it wasn't true he had seen the way Ron and Hermione had defended him even the way Lupin had smiled at him still the thought was hard to shake.

Once he had freed himself of the cruel voice another thought came into his head: where the hell was he going to go? He had just flown away...an now the realisation hit him he had no where to go. The majority of the wizarding world hated him 'Sirius Black serial killer', his old friends were either dead or turned against him and the only people he could think of, Harry and Lupin, were in the safe confines of Hogwarts and would draw too much attention. "South" he muttered Buckbeak immediately changed course he just knew he had to get as far away as possible and why not have somewhere hot to spend his time. The rest would come later.

Just started I'll see how this goes, it'll follow thestoryline in the books as in when Sirius comes back but obviously there will be the introduction of a new character.


	2. On the Run

He had flown for God knows how long and his hands had become numb from the cold. Sirius was still only in the few rags he had for clothing it was a mix of the Azkaban prisoner uniform and rags he had found when hunting down Pettigrew he hadn't taken care of himself preferring to stay in his Animagi form and so the clothes now smelt of mould the kind that suffocates you and hits you in the back of the throat. He hadn't noticed it before but now that there was nothing to think about the smell was all around him lingering following him. Through the rags of his 'clothes' he could feel the biting of the wind his cheeks were freezing and his fingers had frozen up the muscles were refusing to grip Buckbeak's back. The feathers on Buckbeak's back were slippery and hard to grip it was made even harder by his muscles refusing to yield to his instructions to grip.

Sirius looked to the ground all he had seen since taking flight was the dark ground below with the occasional glow of bright orange from a muggle town or city below him spread across the ground he had thought of stopping in some of them but thought it better to put as much distance between him and Hogwarts as humanly possible. As the blackness of the ground spread before him Sirius had forgotten when the last Muggle settlement he saw was. The thought had just flickered across his mind when there was an orange glare "Of course just when I think about it it comes" Sirius whispered under his breath but the orange wasn't just from a city he saw that it was the sun slowly rising on the horizon.

Sirius had hoped to fly until Buckbeak could no longer fly but now he realised he couldn't fly in the day there was too much risk of a Muggle sighting or the Ministry.

He urged Buckbeak down to the ground slowly he started to descend he saw a small village nearby but chose to land on a hillside that lay above the village, at the bottom of the hill was woods. Sirius had always loved the woods, he attempted to swing his leg round to dismount Buckbeak but his muscles groaned in pain and he had to stretch his limbs before he was eventually able to get off. When he landed on the ground he momentarily thought that someone had cast the Jelly-Legs curse upon him he even looked around for someone nearby before he realised his legs were suddenly adjusting to having weight put on them again. He looked towards Buckbeak who looked back with an encouraging but tired look on his face Sirius understood how someone could love him. Sirius then realised how exposed he was if any wizard or witch saw him now he would be caught and if a Muggle saw him with a Hippogriff it would certainly be reported to the Ministry and the place would be swarming with people who wanted him dead.

So he ran at full speed towards the woods he heard Buckbeak following him eagerly surprised at the sudden motion. Sirius had no cover on his feet and soon the ground changed from the fresh, soft grass to the damp and earthy ground of the forest just as Sirius had entered the dark, cover of the woods the sun had risen over the hill. Sirius looked around him there wasn't much cover here the wood was mainly made up of Ash and Silver Birch the trees were thin and if anyone came walking now they would see him clearly. From here however Sirius could see a small village with a church at the top of a small hill a road ran across the bottom of the woods straight into the village the woods followed the road until close to the village when the woods petered out. Sirius considered going straight into the village but thought to look for cover in the woods first, if he went into there was a possibility that he would be recognised. He knew the Muggle public had been told about him and his face had been on the front of their newspapers but his appearance had drastically changed since the beginning of his time in Azkaban that he didn't know if people would recognise him. So he started walking through the woods keeping the road below him but walking away from the village.

The woods thickened a little and he found the floor below him changed from bare dirt to a mossy under floor. Buckbeak had followed him loyally and now stood beside him sniffing the air. Sirius decided that the clearing would be a good base for him and Buckbeak to rest a little as it was more covered than the rest of the woods, he could still be seen if someone looked closely as if looking for something but otherwise he would be well protected. As he stepped further into the clearing and looked for a suitable place to lay down Buckbeak tensed and began to back up. Sirius knew that he should trust any movement that Buckbeak made the Hippogriff had better senses than Sirius. As Buckbeak began to hunch lower to the ground Sirius began to back up and looked towards to woods on the other side of the clearing where Buckbeak's gaze was directed.

He must of being standing there for about half a minute that seemed to stretch on for what felt like half an hour and just as he was beginning to question what the Hippogriff was so tense about a black Labrador jumped out of the woods. The dog stood gazing perplexed at the beast in front of him before the barking began Buckbeak then started to rear trying to attack the dog. Sirius didn't know what to do he couldn't think the tiredness wiping his mind of what he could possibly do.

"Barney stop! What are you doing you dumb dog!"

A middle age man came ambling through the woods then and stopped.

"What are you doing?" He asked Sirius.

Sirius gazed at him perplexed and then suddenly a memory of Hogwarts came into his mind they'd been learning about Hippogriffs "Muggles can't see the Hippogriff they have a disillusionment charm placed on them". Then he knew this old man was simply staring at a bedraggled man standing barefoot in the forest, no wonder he was concerned, Sirius's face stretched into a manic grin he was safer now he thought.

"YOU'RE HIM!"

Sirius had paid no attention to the man and was snapped back to reality he looked at him then saw the fear and shock on the man's face, he knew the man knew he was 'the man from the news'. He snapped into action pulling out his wand and whispering the words "Obliviate". At this Sirius turned and ran with Buckbeak at his side he was worried about the dog but ran as fast as his weak limbs could carry him he made the snap the decision to head for the village at least he could get food there. He heard a bark behind him and saw the Labrador chasing Sirius blurred and changed into Padfoot drained at the energy it had used but stood before the dog who began to bark at Buckbeak again.

Sirius barked back just as fiercely the middle age man then came bumbling through breaking twigs loudly underfoot obviously still confused after the obliviate charm. He stopped when he saw Padfoot's form Sirius wasn't surprised he was a bloody massive dog when in his Animagi form. The man called his dog who was backing away from Sirius's new form. Sirius then turned and fled toward the village he could feel his energy draining but was determined to get there.

He was out of the woods faster than he thought he would it was still early morning and not many people were around so he decided to find any shelter he could. In his Padfoot form Sirius began trotting down the road hiding next to cars and behind bushes sniffing at the houses. With is greater sense of smell he could decide on a house he wanted to smell he went from house to house but there were too many problems with them. Children, cats, dogs. These things would more likely notice him and it was always easier to hide from adults they didn't run around and look in places they shouldn't. Padfoot looked up he realised he was now close to the church and that's where he saw a viable hiding place.

It was an old shed far behind the church it had once been white but was now a brown white with plants climbing the walls it had a small window at the side and a corrugated iron roof. He hurried forward into the churchyard racing past the numerous gravestones and reached the shed. Binding the dark double doors at the front was a thick chain with a heavy padlock it was rusting and almost had vines growing over it. Sirius changed into his human form and tapped his wand to lock "Alohomora" the lock wanted to object but finally gave away to the magic. Sirius removed the chains quickly not caring about the noise wanting to find cover he tore at the vines on the door and tugged the door open. He then snuck inside followed closely by Buckbeak, shutting the door firmly behind him, despite the shed's dilapidated appearance it was covered and didn't seem to let in the cold. Sirius sagged and laid down onto the hard floor immediately he felt sleep creeping up on him he but before he let himself rest he placed wards around himself and Buckbeak hoping nobody would notice the disturbed vines and chains.

A/N: If anyone's pedantic I know in HP eye contact has to be maintained with a Hippogriff but it would be too hard to write that, sorry! Also if anyone is reading sorry for the wait and if you want more action sorry (again) I just like a lot of detail!


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